ARH2006: Meet Radioman: Marcel "Tou Tou" LaMarche!

Last night was our first read-through for the Armageddon Radio Hour. At one point, I laughed until I cried. It's the part where Jim, the recently returned World War 2 vet, snaps the neck of busy-body neighbor, Ms. Dorrit, just before a quiet dinner at home. The neck-snap, you see, comes out of no-where. Which is why it's particularly funny.

I have to confess that when I saw the sides that we read for the auditions, I was a little concerned about the script for the Radio show. In retrospect, I can see that a single page or half page of dialogue, read by nervous auditionees isn't the best reflection of the material. The same scenes that I thought were a little bland, are hilarious, when read by the final cast and performed within the context of the entire piece. It turns out that the material is actually stronger than I thought it was.

I thoroughly enjoyed myself at last night's read through. If we can capture half of the joy that we got out of reading that material, in the actual performance, we will have a hit show on our hands. Too bad that it only gets a single performance. Let's hope somebody tapes this program. It's going to be a good one.

One of the coolest things about this gig is that the director, Don, is encouraging the new cast members to divorce ourselves from the shells of the characters that we were cast in and discover our own characters. Originally, my characters name was Jeremy "JR" Riddle and he was sort of the doofus, corn-husker, knucklehead sidekick to the lead actor in the show. And while that might've suited the original actor in the show and, indeed, been appropriate to that show, it's less of a tight fit for me.

Here's a little recap of how I walked through the process of eventually finding my character, "Tou Tou" LaMarche.

In this years script, I've been cast to carry nearly 15 characters, each of them with their own interesting ethnicity or characterization. In this show alone, I play
All American Teenage Boy,
Lovable Irish Security Guard,
Nefarious Yiddish Jewelry Dealer,
Sassy French Head In a Box,
Pretentious St. Peter,
Tough As Nails GI,
Insidious Pharmacist & Poisoner
Blockhead Villain's Sidekick,
Limp-wristed Sandwich Seller,
Friendly Morgue Orderly,
All American Dad
and MANY, MANY more!

By sheer demands of the script, I've found myself playing the "Man of A Thousand Voices" type of radio actor. Actually, everyone in the cast has several characters, but not all of them make efforts to alter their voices. I take that as a character choice and a smart one. I see them as playing "radio personalities" with identifiable voices that you'll want to hear carried over from character to character. I see my character as being more utilitarian, filling in the rest of the world and for one reason or another, trying NOT to be identified in each role. My actor makes the world of the radio soundscapes sound bigger and populated by many people. I think that's his job.

So, I knew that he was a utility player and less of a personality type. An outside. A quiet guy. A "Man of 1,000 Voices" and a "Master Impressionist".

Additionally, I knew that he had a "partner" onstage. Played by Joanna Buese, the character of "Marlenka Marceau" is a sexy, Parisian character actress. Don already knew that she was French and had a bit in place where ALL of her characters would be in the same voice. With the same French dialect. It's a very funny bit.

We also knew from talking to Don, that she and I were paired up in some vague way. (There was a couple of young love leads, and a pair of old, tired, weathered performers and the host of the show and his divorcee wife. Everybody had somebody else to work with or against.) So, Marlenka and I were paired up.

I pulled Joanna aside and asked her if she'd given any thought to how she wanted to approach her character. She was pretty vague in what she'd prepared. Neither of us had any time to do any sort of character research. She knew that Marlenka would be a sexpot, probably. And that she was very cool and quiet and reserved. Don wants her to smoke black, European filterless cigarettes. (Different from anyone else in the show.) There was also some talk about her wearing a long, sexy, dark colored dress. She asked for something with open sleeves to highlight her unshaved underarms. (Tee hee. Take that Frenchies.)

We talked about the possible permutations of our relationship with one another. We could be...
Absolutely uninterested with one another.
Absolutely all over each other.
Quietly, subtly seducing each other, when no one is looking.
Unrequitedly In Love with one another.
Or one could be in love with the other, but the subject of their affection wasn't interested.
Or we could be absolutely OVER any sort of affection altogether.

I mentioned the possibility that perhaps, we're both European. Both Parisians, perhaps. And that we were lovers, in the cool, subtle, mysterious French way. That we had very relaxed morals and no problems with PDA. And perhaps that would give the other characters something to play with. They would be forced to be onstage with these two people who were all over each other. Being the 40s, the Americans would probably be pretty uptight about that sort of thing. So, that offered up a natural, logical conflict for everyone else to play off of. A gift for the other actors in the show.

Basically, Joanna and I would be overly affectionate with each other, during any scene that we weren't in. She was keen on the idea. We ran it by Don and he was pleased with all of it. He pointed out that we would be rocking a whole different type of relationship than any of the other couples. So, that was good too.

So, now I knew that I was a socially inappropriate, European, Voiceover artist and Master Impressionist, with a lover.

It was Joanna's idea that we were HUGE radio stars in some small European country. The "Burns and Allen of Romania" or something like that. So, they would come into this performance situation, thinking, "Hey, we're pretty hot shit! We're celebrities. These Americans are lucky to have us." Which lends itself to us playing slightly snotty Europeans, as well as informing our general mood within the show. I was down with that idea. I ran it by Don and he liked it too.

So, now I knew I was a snotty, European Radio Celebrity with a lover, who acted socially inappropriately and who also was a "Man of 1,000 Voices" and a "Master Impressionist"!

Which is pretty much the entirety of the character, as I see him. To make things match more logically, I've decided that the character is also French. I haven't had a chance to rock out my dynamic French dialect throughout an entire show before. This is going to be a fun challenge.

All last night, on my walk home, I tried out different names for the character, sampling every French name I could think of. Alec. Stephane. Pierre. Jean Claude. Jean Luc. Adrienne. Rene. Michele. Georges. Anything I could think of. I finally decided on Marcel. (Joanna's characters last name is Marceau. I like the symmetry of choosing the first name that compliments her last name.) I added a nickname, "Tou Tou", because it's undeniably French, but also because I liked the idea that other characters would have to say "tou tou" whenever they needed to address me. It's a silly, childish, vaguely scatalogical name. "Tou Tou" And I finally chose LaMarche as the last name as a tribute to noted voiceover artist, Maurice LaMarche. (You will know him as the voice of "The Brain" from Pinky & The Brain and Zoidberg from "Futurama".)

So, now I knew I was a snotty, European Radio Celebrity with a lover, who acted socially inappropriately and who also had a lover and who also was a "Man of 1,000 Voices" and a "Master Impressionist"!, and who was named Marcel "Tou Tou" LaMarche!

I later decided that he will probably wear a beret and have one of those pencil-thin John Waters moustaches. I will probably wear an ascot, too.

And that is how I discovered my character, after one read-through and a few short discussions with the director and my fellow actress. I've found something unique and interesting and exciting for me to play. I hope it translates over to the show. I'm very excited to give it a whirl!

Bon Jour,
"Tou Tou" LaMarche!